after reigns, it was enacted, "That every man have
harness in his house to keep the peace after the antient assise--that is to
say, every man between fifteen years of age and sixty years shall be
assessed and sworn to armour according to the quantity of his lands and
goods--that is, to wit, for fifteen pounds lands and forty marks goods, a
hauberke, a helmet of iron, a sword, a dagger, and a horse. For ten pounds
of lands and twenty marks goods, a hauberke, a helmet, a sword, and a
dagger. For five pounds lands, a doublet, a helmet of iron, a sword, and a
dagger. For forty shillings lands, a sword, a bow and arrows, and a dagger.
And all others that may shall have bows and arrows. Review of armour shall
be made every year two times, by two constables for every hundred and
franchise thereunto appointed; and the constables shall present, to
justices assigned for that purpose, such defaults as they do find."

As the archery was more developed, and the bow became the peculiar weapon
of the English, regular practice was ordered, and shooting became at once
the drill and the amusement of the people. Every hamlet had its pair of
butts; and on Sundays and holidays[66] all able-bodied men were required to
appear in the field, to employ their leisure hours "as valyant Englishmen
ought to do," "utterly leaving the play at the bowls, quoits, dice, kails,
and other unthrifty games;" magistrates, mayors, and bailiffs being
responsible for their obedience, under penalty, if these officers neglected
their duty, of a fine of twenty shillings for each offence. On the same
days, the tilt-yard at the Hall or Castle was thrown open, and the young
men of rank amused themselves with similar exercises. Fighting, or mock
fighting--and the imitation was not unlike the reality--was at once the
highest enjoyment and the noblest accomplishment of all ranks in the state;
and over that most terrible of human occupations they had flung the
enchanted halo of chivalry, decorating it with all the fairest graces, and
consecrating it with the most heroic aspirations.

The chivalry, with much else, was often perhaps something ideal. In the
wars of the Roses it had turned into mere savage ferocity; and in forty
years of carnage the fighting propensities had glutted themselves. A
reaction followed, and in the early years of Henry VIII. the statutes were
growing obsolete, and the "unlawful games" rising again into favour. The
younger nobles, or some among them,